Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has met with a blow after four top leaders from the party resigned in Maharashtra’s Pimpri Chinchwad. These four leaders are likely to join the parent faction of NCP by Sharad Pawar later this week, according to this report.
The development comes after a poor show by the Ajit Pawar led NCP in the recent Lok Sabha elections 2024. Ajit Pawar-led NCP contested the Lok Sabha elections as part of the BJP-led NDA, but could win just one seat – Raigad – while Sharad Pawar-led NCP bagged eight.
The resignations come amid a buzz that some leaders in the Ajit Pawar camp are willing to return to the Sharad Pawar fold, according to a report in NDTV.
Ajit Gavhane, the chief of NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad unit, is among those who have submitted their resignations to Ajit Pawar. The others include Pimpri Chinchwad Students’ Wing chief Yash Sane, and former corporators, Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar, the NDTV report said.
These developments come days after Sharad Pawar said that those who wanted to “weaken” his party would not be taken in, but he would accept leaders who would not “hurt” the image of the party.
“Those who wanted to weaken the party would not be taken in. But those leaders who would help strengthen the organization and not hurt the image of the party would be taken in,” Pawar had said.
In 2023, Ajit Pawar led a rebellion against his uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar splitting the party into two political parties. While Sharad Pawar remained in the Opposition camp, Ajit Pawar joined the Mahayuti government led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Maharashtra. Pawar was made the Deputy Chief Minister.
Maharashtra is going to polls in October-November. Last week, NCP chief Sharad Pawar sounded a poll bugle and said that the opposition MVA will comfortably win the election to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly.